Stranger in Middle-earth
by Rick M. Hunter
Summary: The Stranger fell from the sky and lost all his memories, and now he must journey to find out who he is and where he came from. With his strange devices that shoot fire, how will he affect the tide of Middle-Earth. (Not a crossover with ME, though it does start in that universe.)
1. The fall

A man quietly counted down as the nuclear bomb next to him was about to go off, _30 seconds, _he had just shot all of the geth that had tried to stop him, and felt the adrenaline in his system disappear. His limbs felt heavy, his legs numb, _I'm going to die here, _he thought as he picked up his broken sword, _15 years is a g_ood _run, I just hope Athena isn't too mad at me, _he silently laughed at himself, _Who am I kidding, she is going to take it out on Kyon, poor bastard. _he looked at the timer on the clock, _20 seconds, time just doesn't want to pass all that fast, what else can I do? I already sent the others their paths until the end of the war. _He started walking towards the edge of the platform that overlooked the sea, _This is a beautiful sight, _he began counting down, _10...9...8...7...6, _he sat down, his hanging over the edge. He opened a comm to the Normandy, "Athena?"

"Michael!" he heard the voice of his love shout.

"I just wanted to say, I love you," _three...two...one,_ he closed his eyes as he waited for the bomb to go off._  
_

There was a bright light that engulfed the man, he didn't feel pain, instead the sensation of falling. The man opened his eyes, and saw a building, "What?" he asked as he looked, to his perceptive, and saw the ground coming fast, "That isn't good?" he thought as he flipped his body so that it wasn't upside-down. He drew his sword, only to realize that it wasn't in its sheath, "Shit!" he shouted as his body lit up with his biotics, he punched the wall and created a hole to grab onto. The sudden stop caused Michael's arm to break with a sickening crack. He screamed as he saw his arm bend the completely wrong way, _How am I getting down from here? _he thought as he looked down, _the drop is __still another 4 or 5 stories down,_ _I've survived worse. _Michael let go of the wall and began to free fall through the air. He say a pile of hay that was in the streets, _Great, I'm taking a page from Assassin's Creed, _he thought as he leaned his body towards the hay. Michael hit the pile of hay perfectly, but physics decided to take over, and he was only slowed by the soft hay. He went through the pile and hit his head on the ground, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

When the man next awoke he felt his head in binds, and his arm in a splint, "Where am I?" he asked as he tried to sit up.

"You are in Gondor," a woman said as she held him down, "more importantly you are in my house, now, would you like to tell me your name?"

The man tried to remember his name, but couldn't, "I am sorry," he said, "I am afraid, that I don't remember."

"Is that so? Well, shouldn't surprise me, it looked like you hit your head fairly hard."

"May I ask your name?"

"My name is Marion daughter of Glenadale, and wife of Thoris," the woman answered, "I can't call you 'Man' all the time," Marion commented, "so we'll need to find you a name," she began examining the man's items which were sitting on a table not far from the bed, then the man laying on the bed, "You carry around strange items, and your eyes have a strange glow...I know, I'll call you Stranger."

"Stranger?" the man repeated, "until I find my name, that will by mine."

"So, Stranger, what are you going to do now?"

"First, I'll find a way to repay you for your hospitality," Stranger said, "then I'll leave to find out who I am."

"I can agree to that," Marion said, "my husband works in the stables, you can assist him when your arm heals."

"How long do you think that will take?"

"I am a Half-elf," Marion said, "my mother taught me some healing techniques, but it should still take a week."

"I understand," Stranger said as he got up.

"Mother!" a young boy shouted as he ran into the room, "is he up yet?"

"Glensod! I told you to wait outside!" Marion shouted at the boy, obviously her son.

"I wanted to see the man who fell from the sky," the boy whined as he came up to Stranger.

The man in question sat up, "My name is Stranger, it is a pleasure to meet you young Glensod."

"Stranger?" the boy repeated, "that is an unusual name."

"I do not remember my true name, so I will use that one," Stranger responded, "may I be granted a few moments of privacy?"

"Glensod, come help me with supper," Marion said as she grabbed her son by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

Stranger looked at his possessions on the table and sat up. He noticed that he was only wearing pants, there was a shirt next to the two rectangular items. He picked up the bigger one and saw a small protrusion on the side of it, "What?" he asked as he pressed the button, and the item expanded into a strange device, "what is this?" his hand was on a handle of some kind and his finger was on the trigger. Out of curiosity he pulled the trigger and there was a loud bang, followed by the device shooting up and hitting Stranger in the face. There were screams coming from the other room.

"What in gods name was that!?" Marion shouted as she came into the room.

Stranger was rubbing his nose, "I don't know," he examined where he shot to see a hole in the stone wall.

"Are some type of wizard?"

"I do not know."

"Well, whatever you did don't do it again!"

"I understand," Stranger said as he pressed the button on the side of the device again, causing it to collapse into the rectangular form that it was originally.

"You must be a wizard," Marion said as Stranger put the rectangle back on the table.

"I will find that out after I have repaid you," Stranger said as he grabbed his shirt.

"That thing is heavier than any tunic that I've seen, what is it made out of?"

"I don't know," Stranger tried putting his shirt on, but it was awkward since he didn't have full control over his right arm, but he finally got his shirt on.

"Well, supper is ready, and my husband will be home soon," Marion said, "so you best get out to the table."

"Yes Ma'am," Stranger said as he walked out of the room.

* * *

**Arias: Well, this is my first step into the LotR fandom, I hope you guys give positive reviews.**

**Stranger: What is this?  
**

**Arias: This my friend is the Xtro, you would know that if I didn't give you amnesia.**

**Stranger: You know who I am?**

**Arias: I am the author, though you won't learn who you are for quite a while.**

**Stranger:...**

**Arias: Well, until next time Arias out.**


	2. Shadow

It had been a week since Stranger had fallen from the sky, and he was now walking down to the stables with Thorin. The past couple of days have been somewhat awkward for him. He had been having dreams of a woman who was running at him, holding out her hand. When he tried to reach for her hand he felt the sensation of falling and heard the woman scream something, but couldn't make it out. In his head Stranger knew that if he found that woman, he would find his past. The only problem, he had no idea where to start looking.

Thorin looked at Stranger as the stables came into view, "So, has anything come back to you?"

"No," Stranger said, "nothing."

"Don't get down friend," Thorin remarked, "a wise man once said, 'It does not matter who you were or where you came from, only who you are and where you are at."

"Good words," The soon came up to the stable, "how many horses do you keep in there?"

"This is one of the largest stables in Gondor," Thorin announced with pride, "we keep over 70 'orses in this one alone."

"All for the knights?" Stranger asked with a hint of amazment in his voice.

"No, our 'orses are bred for the rangers," Thorin said, "they are fast, and aren't trained to have armor on them."

The two men walked into the stables and Stranger was amazed to see how many horses were in the building, "You weren't lying," Stranger walked up to a black one.

It went up to its hind legs and threatened to kick Stranger, "That one there is Shadow, he is a stallion I'll tell you that," Thorin said as he ran a hand through his beard, "Not even I could tame this beast."

Stranger looked at the large man, "Why not?"

"Damn thing kicks you off 'fore you can get a firm grip on 'im!" he grabbed a bag of feed, "You'll feed the 'orses while I change the 'ay, wouldn't want 'em to kick you in the 'ead now would we?"

Stranger felt his head, more specifically where a scar had formed from where it hit the ground, "No, I guess not."

* * *

**Sometime later**

When Stranger finished putting feed into the horse troughs, he wiped his brow and looked at Thorin, "Is that it?"

Thorin had just finished changing the hay for the horses when he nodded, "We got to brush the 'orses now," Thorin told me, "go get me some of 'em brushes from off that bench."

Stranger nodded and went to the bench. He grabbed two of the brushes, and walked back to Thorin, "So what do we do?"

"First, you'll watch me and learn how to brush 'em 'orses, then you'll start brushing 'em 'orses over 'ere yourself," Thorin walked up to one of the horses that was in the nearest stable, "You want to 'old the brush like this," he held the brush so that the ends were vertical, "Then brush side to side," he demonstrated it by brushing the horse, "Do it correctly, and these 'orses will warm up to you in a very short time."

Stranger nodded as he went to another horse and followed the instructions given to him, "Good horse," he said as he brushed its coat. Stranger kept brushing the horses until he eventually came to Shadow. When he examined the horses' coat from outside of its stable, he saw that it was fairly uneven, "Thorin, why does Shadow's coat look like that?"

"Shadow doesn't stay still long enough for any of us to give 'im a proper brushing."

Stranger looked at the horse and entered its stable, "Good horse," he said in a calm voice as he held his hand out, not quite touching Shadow, but getting close enough that it would look that way.

"What are you doing?" Thorin asked, "get away from 'im, he'll kick you!"

Stranger looked into the horses eyes, as he kept his palm mere inches away from the horses snout. The horse snorted, and then rose up on its hind lings and threatened to kick Stranger. He jumped out of the way before Shadow could kick him.

"I told you to get away," Thorin said in a harsh tone as he crossed his arms, "why didn't you listen?"

"I don't know," Stranger said as he looked at the horse that came very close to killing him.

"Don't try anything like that again," Thorin said as he reached out his hand for Stranger to take.

He took Thorin's hand and was pulled up almost instantly. This feat surprised Stranger, due to the fact that Thorin looked athletic, but not strong enough to nearly throw a man in the air by helping him up, "Thank you," Stranger said as he rubbed his forehead.

"You have a strange way of talking," Thorin said, "'Nother reason to call you Stranger."

"I guess so," Stranger said as he shook his head.

"Let's get goin'. I got to stop by the market for some bread for supper."

* * *

**Arias: Welcome people! To another episode of 'The Xtro!'**

**Stranger: What is that?**

**Arias: The official title of this segment.**

**Stranger: Why are we even here?**

**Arias: Because I want to do some fun things! So to start it off, we'll do interview segments for the time being!**

**Stranger: Do you have to be so loud?**

**Arias: I do. [Snaps fingers]**

**[Both are magically transported to a box room that has a desk at which Arias is sitting behind and two chairs on the other side, facing the audience.]**

**Stranger: What the hell? [Jumps up from the chair and looks around]**

**[Cue laughter]**

**Arias: Now, for our first interviewee! Stranger!**

**Stranger: Why me? [sits back down as he looks at the audience] Who are they?**

**Arias: You were already here, and those are the extras in my stories.**

**Stranger: Stories?**

**Arias: You can't possibly think I only write about you? [Stranger starts to answer, but is cut off by Arias] So, first question [Pulls out question cards] What was your childhood like?**

**Stranger: [Crickets chirping]**

**Arias: Ugh... right [Starts flipping through his cards] 'What is your motivation for adventure?' No... Aha! What do you plan on doing in the near future?**

**Stranger: [lounges in the chair] Well, first off, I would like to figure out who I am.**

**Arias: [Strokes chin as he nods] I see, I see... but What if what you find isn't what you want? [Strangers attempts to answer, but, once again, is cut off by Arias] What if in your past you were some kind of monster, and everyone was trying to kill you?  
**

**Stranger: Is that really my past?**

**Arias: No, but it could have been a possibility. [looks at watch] Oh, we are out of time, until next time!**

* * *

**AN: Just so you know I did that entire Xtro with my eyes closed.**


End file.
